Korean Job Discussion Forums

[FierceInvalid]

I was walking down the street yesterday and passed a small mechanic's shop. Above the garage was a sign that said "5min. Oil Change", in English. Why English? This is a small mechanic in a neighborhood that has relatively few foreigners. Besides, even if there were lots of foreigners around there certainly wouldn't be enough to justify alienating 99% of the clientele, the vast majority of whom I'm sure can't understand the sign. I can't think of any way that this makes sense to do if you're running a business.

There are countless examples of this everywhere, and I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas. Is it because English is perceived as really "modern", and therefore goes hand-in-hand with quality? I don't know...

[IconsFanatic]

Koreans hate "those foreign bastards", and yet love the snobbiness of being able to say "I know a foreign language, and you don't" to their fellow citizens. Don't ask me why.

If I was Korean, I'd want my kids learning German or Chinese, not English. Yes, English is by far the most important international language, but everyone and their snot-nosed brother goes to an English hagwon in Korea. Does it really bring them success in the grand scheme of things? A Korean who speaks fluent Mandarin or German could get a high-paying international job a heck of a lot faster than another one of those "cogs in the machine" kiddos who can write the TOEIC, but who can't even carry a simple oral conversation.

Just my two cents.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Yeah, Koreans tend to think that the level of one's English ability directly determines how intelligent they are.

This is one reason why Koreans who speak some English will not speak Korean to you. Even if my Korean is better than their English, they pretend to not understand my Korean only to show me that they are smarter than me.

Men seem to have this ego problem more than females I might add...

Putting a sign up in English is basically the owner stroking his own ego.

[The King of Kwangju]

[Trinny]

My TOEIC score was 970 out of 990 (in 2000). Plus, I went to a top-notch university in Korea. And my last job in Korea paid me somewhere between 19 million and 20 million won a year, which was not very much, considering my work experience before that. I left Seoul for good in 2001.

It IS easy to get a job if you speak English, but it doesn't mean you will get a good-paying one.

Speaking German or Chinese: my previous employer was a German-based multinational company. The language of communication within the company was English, not German. Not knowing German didn't affect my job performance, which included liasing between Indian and Chinese offices and reporting business development to my German boss who was also an American citizen.

[kimcheeking]

Was the sign promoting a product. Maybe it was advertising a particular brand of tools, Snap-on perhaps, or oil or something like that. My father works in a car-shop and they have all kinds of product advertising clocks etc.... if it is a foreign product probably the company didn't translate it.

[FierceInvalid]

Yeah, I thought about the "prestige" or "showing off" explanation, I guess that could be it. It just seems doubtful to me that the dubious prestige of having an English sign outweighs the effect of people actually understanding the sign (in terms of bringing in some business). This seems even stranger when the purpose of the sign is informational rather than promotional. For example, at Megabox in COEX the signs directing customers to the bathrooms are in English only. Sure, there's also a picture and "bathroom" is an easy word, but why have it only in English?

[Butterfly]

[weatherman]

I am surprised it took them a whole 5 minutes.

[Real Reality]

Trinny,

You wrote, "I left Seoul for good in 2001."

You are in Canada now, right?

Can you give your opinion on living in Canada as compared to living in Korea? Also, how do you compare work and income?

Thank you.

[Trinny]

Real reality,

You are asking one big question that I can write a book on. Anyway, I will try to give you some answer based on my personal experience, so you won't find it representative of everybody who has a cross-cultural experience.

Quality of life & lifestyle: If you like the life of being single, drinking in the bars and socializing with a lot of pretty women, Korea wins hands down. If you like to have a family life where your kids play in a large front yard and get an education that respects his/her individuality a bit more, Canada wins hands down. Personally, I feel a bit isolated at times, as I don't have as many friends as I used to have in Korea.

Work: Korean work ethics is screwy, at best. I am still working with Korean companies that always tell me their work should be done immediately and leave me working from early in the morning until midnight. I often end up working on weekends and holidays to meet tight deadlines set by Korean companies. Working independently, I make an average of 1,500CDN a month, but it largely depends on how many days I work and how productive I am.

Korean companies are usually not clear about their expectations on the projects they gave to me and then come back to complain about the "overall quality of my work", after final work was presented. Or they would often step in the very last minute to tell me of modification of the whole content and expect me to cover the update without additional payment. The rigidity in negotiating prices exhibited before signing contracts is demoralizing. Heck, you want a quality work, then you should be willing to pay for it. I was once told I was acting like "cold-blooded westerner" and deprived of "Jeong," when I used the western logic and hardball tactics for my bottom line. Oh, come on. Business is business, and what they are doing is using this baloney "jeong" to take you for a ride.

I am really envious of my Canadian friends who have 2-year college diploma and make CDN80, 000 a year. Driving nice convertibles, they are complaining about their low play not enough to keep up with their car costs. Good lord! It is not hard to make more than CDN40,000 a year in Canada, but the cost of living makes it very difficult to save money. Maintaining house, cars, paying down mortgage and taxes take away a good chunk of your income. Most of the Canadians I've seen are big spenders, too.

For the low-income families, Canada is a lot better place to live in. I've seen quite a few low-income families who have 2 or 3 kids going to universities. Yeah, they just get by, but the extent of social support system allows them to have access to the things that are beyond the reach of many Korean low-income families. Coming from a low-income family myself, I think a lot of Canadian low-income families are lucky to be in Canada.

[Yaya]

[mithridates]

It's likely because knowing English makes you one of a huge sea of English-speaking job seekers, whereas when another language is needed it's harder to find people from an employer's perspective. However, I find the best way to stand out is to know English plus one other language, not the other language and no English at all.

[jajdude]

I think English is just a popular decoration, not only in Korea of course. That's why it's so often mangled and meaningless. It isn't even intended to make sense or be useful - - it's just a decoration. Ever check out www.engrish.com ? Lots of mangled EDL - English as a Decoration Language- there. I hear China has some good stuff too.

................. Or maybe sometimes English is thought of as lending an air of intelligence or authenticity to things. It is after all on most products you can buy- international language and all.

[itchy]

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